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Old 03-24-2021, 06:47 AM   #1
maxsubaru1
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Default Belt issues on 08 Impreza

Hi everyone,

My 2.0R hatchback Impreza from 2008 (150hp) had all belts (including engine belt) and water pump replaced at 93000km 3 years ago (2018). Unfortunately they didn't allow me to look at them while they were working. This was an official Subaru workshop and I spent more than 1300$

Last august at 118000km I had to replace the two services belts (AC belt and power steering belt) as after visual inspection they had cracks. This was done by a local mechanic, using brand new Continental belts (matching numbers for my car). The guy who did it said that it looked like the previous belt replacement in 2018 wasn't actually done.

Today I went to another mechanic because during cold starts, I hear a shimming noise from the engine bay. Almost like a belt scratching against something. The noise disappears after 3 seconds and only happens when I start the engine cold.

It might be unrelated with the noise but after visual inspection I noticed the AC belt (the elastic one) had cracks in it. So the local mechanic advised to replace it with a Subaru OEM belt and he just cut it for now as he said if it was going to break with engine on, it might have damaged the other belts as well. The power steering belt looks fine from the outside. The car has 130000km now

This wear and tear doesn't look normal to me. What do you guys think, what can be the issue behind? Another Subaru workshop quoted me 85$ for the OEM AC belt. It's elastic so they are just going to put it on manually without any particular instrument.. Is it how it should be done?

Is there a way to easily verify that the engine belt was really replaced in 2018? The local mechanic said it's going to take hours
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Old 03-26-2021, 08:28 AM   #2
maxsubaru1
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In other words can the AC belt get damaged if they didn't use the proper tool (like the Gates one) to install it? Very likely they didn't use any tool
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Old 03-26-2021, 10:55 PM   #3
serrilion
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The belt should be strait forward. The only thing I can think of on the AC side is they are cranking the s*** out of the belt when tightening the tensioner to tightly.

I normally replace mine every 60,000mi (96,000km)

Its pretty strait forward to do yourself
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Old 03-27-2021, 06:27 AM   #4
maxsubaru1
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No there is no tensioner on the 2008 Impreza. It's an elastic belt and needs a tool to be installed properly
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Old 03-27-2021, 03:08 PM   #5
serrilion
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxsubaru1 View Post
No there is no tensioner on the 2008 Impreza. It's an elastic belt and needs a tool to be installed properly

Then the country your from might be of some help? I don't know of any here in the states. But maybe a few pictures would be helpful
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Old 04-03-2021, 11:58 AM   #6
euphanasia
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Could you be clear about what kind of noise you're getting? I don't know what you mean by a "shimming noise."

Could it be a bad idler pulley heating up the belt?
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Old 05-12-2021, 03:45 PM   #7
Lega-C
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I had a similar issue and ignored it. Eventually the belt snapped only after it had dug into the serpentine belt cover and worn a slut straight through it. I'm not sure what the issue was but my guess was an oversized belt, improper install, or possibly I tightened the pulleys down too far.
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